Incumbents

• Monarch
  Monarchy in Australia
  The Monarchy of Australia is a form of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign of Australia. The monarchy is a constitutional one modelled on the Westminster style of parliamentary government, incorporating features unique to the Constitution of Australia.The present monarch is...
  
   – King George VI
  George VI of the United Kingdom
  George VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
  
  
• Governor-General
  Governor-General of Australia
  The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
  
   – Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
  Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
  The Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester was a soldier and member of the British Royal Family, the third son of George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary....
  
  
• Prime Minister
  Prime Minister of Australia
  The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
  
   – Ben Chifley
  Ben Chifley
  Joseph Benedict Chifley , Australian politician, was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia. He took over the Australian Labor Party leadership and Prime Ministership after the death of John Curtin in 1945, and went on to retain government at the 1946 election, before being defeated at the 1949...
  
  

State Premiers

• Premier of New South Wales – William McKell
  William McKell
  Sir William John McKell GCMG , Australian politician, was Premier of New South Wales from 1941 to 1947, and was the 12th Governor-General of Australia. He was also the oldest Governor General of Australia, at 93 when he died....
  
  
• Premier of Queensland – Frank Cooper (until 7 March), then Ned Hanlon
• Premier of South Australia – Thomas Playford IV
  Thomas Playford IV
  Sir Thomas Playford, GCMG was a South Australian politician. He served continuously as Premier of South Australia from 5 November 1938 to 10 March 1965, the longest term of any elected government leader in the history of Australia. His tenure as premier was marked by a period of population and...
  
  
• Premier of Tasmania – Robert Cosgrove
  Robert Cosgrove
  Sir Robert Cosgrove KCMG was an Australian politician, trade unionist, and twice Premier of Tasmania from 18 December 1939 to 18 December 1947 and 25 February 1948 to 26 August 1958....
  
  
• Premier of Victoria – John Cain
  John Cain (senior)
  John Cain was an Australian politician, who became the 34th premier of Victoria, and was the first Australian Labor Party leader to win a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. He was the only premier of Victoria whose son also served as premier.-Early life:Cain was born, one of 18...
  
  
• Premier of Western Australia
  Premier of Western Australia
  The Premier of Western Australia is the head of the executive government in the Australian State of Western Australia. The Premier has similar functions in Western Australia to those performed by the Prime Minister of Australia at the national level, subject to the different Constitutions...
  
   – Frank Wise
  Frank Wise
  Frank Joseph Scott Wise AO was an Australian Labor Party politician and the 16th Premier of Western Australia. He took office on 31 July 1945 in the closing stages of the Second World War, following the resignation of his predecessor due to ill health...
  
  

State Governors

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir John Northcott
  John Northcott
  Lieutenant General Sir John Northcott KCMG, KCVO, CB was an Australian Army general who served as Chief of the General Staff during World War II, and commanded the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in the Occupation of Japan...
  
   (from 1 August)
• Governor of Queensland – Sir Leslie Orme Wilson
  Leslie Orme Wilson
  Sir Leslie Orme Wilson, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, DSO, PC was a British soldier, Conservative politician and Governor of Queensland.-Personal life:...
  
   (until 23 April), then Sir John Lavarack
  John Lavarack
  Lieutenant General Sir John Dudley Lavarack KCMG, KCVO, KBE, CB, DSO was an Australian soldier who was Governor of Queensland from 1 October 1946 to 4 December 1957, the first Australian-born governor of that state....
  
   (from 1 October)
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Charles Norrie
  Charles Norrie, 1st Baron Norrie
  Lieutenant-General Charles Willoughby Moke Norrie, 1st Baron Norrie GCMG, GCVO, CB, DSO, MC & Bar was a British Army general during World War II, following which he served terms as Governor of South Australia and the eighth Governor-General of New Zealand.-Army career:After education at Eton and...
  
  
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Hugh Binney
  Hugh Binney
  Admiral Sir Thomas Hugh Binney, KCB, KCMG, DSO was a British naval officer and administrator who was Governor of Tasmania from 1945 to 1953.-Early life:...
  
  
• Governor of Victoria – Sir Winston Dugan
  Winston Dugan, 1st Baron Dugan of Victoria
  Major-General Winston Joseph Dugan, 1st Baron Dugan of Victoria GCMG, CB, DSO, KStJ , known as Sir Winston Dugan between 1934 and 1949, was a British administrator and a career British Army officer...
  
  
• Governor of Western Australia
  Governor of Western Australia
  The Governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of Australia's Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor performs important constitutional, ceremonial and community functions, including:* presiding over the Executive Council;...
  
   – none appointed

Events

• 26 January – Foundation Day is renamed Australia Day
  Australia Day
  Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
  
  .
• 18 February – The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Norman Gilroy, becomes Cardinal Gilroy, the first Australian born member of the College of Cardinals
• 10 March – An Australian National Airways (ANA)
  Australian National Airways
  Australian National Airways was Australia's predominant carrier from the mid-1930s to the early 1950s.-The Holyman Airways Period:On 19 March 1932 Flinders Island Airways began a regular aerial service using the Desoutter Mk.II VH-UEE Miss Launceston between Launceston, Tasmania and Flinders...
  
   DC3
  Douglas DC-3
  The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
  
   aircraft crashes near Hobart
  Hobart
  Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
  
  , killing 25 people.
• 1 May – At least 800 Aboriginal pastoral workers walk off the job in Northwest Western Australia
  Western Australia
  Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
  
  , starting one of the longest industrial strikes in Australia
  1946 Pilbara strike
  The 1946 Pilbara strike was a landmark strike by Indigenous Australian pastoral workers in the Pilbara region of Western Australia for human rights recognition and payment of fair wages and working conditions...
  
  .
• 6 June – The ABC makes the first national broadcast of a federal parliamentary
  Parliament of Australia
  The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...
  
   debate.
• 19 July – Orange, New South Wales
  Orange, New South Wales
  Orange is a city in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney, at an altitude of . Orange has an estimated population of 39,329 and the city is a major provincial centre....
  
   is proclaimed a city.
• 9 September – Trans Australia Airlines
  Trans Australia Airlines
  Trans Australia Airlines or TAA, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its sale to Qantas in May 1996. During that period TAA played a major part in the development of the Australian air transport industry...
  
   makes its first flight.
• 28 September – A federal election
  Australian federal election, 1946
  Federal elections were held in Australia on 28 September 1946. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...
  
   is held. The Australian Labor Party
  Australian Labor Party
  The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
  
   and Prime Minister
  Prime Minister of Australia
  The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
  
   Ben Chifley
  Ben Chifley
  Joseph Benedict Chifley , Australian politician, was the 16th Prime Minister of Australia. He took over the Australian Labor Party leadership and Prime Ministership after the death of John Curtin in 1945, and went on to retain government at the 1946 election, before being defeated at the 1949...
  
   are returned to power. A three-question referendum
  Australian referendum, 1946
  The 1946 Australian Referendum was held on 28 September 1946. It contained three referendum questions.* Social Services * Marketing * Industrial Employment ...
  
   is also held: the question on Social Services
  Australian referendum, 1946 (Social Services)
  Constitution Alteration 1946 proposed to extend the powers of government over a range of social services. The question was put to a referendum in the Australian referendum, 1946 with two other questions...
  
   is carried; questions on Marketing
  Australian referendum, 1946 (Marketing)
  Section 42 of the Australian Constitution limited the government's power to make laws with respect tothe organised marketing of primary products. Constitution Alteration 1946 sought to remove these restrictions....
  
   and Industrial Employment
  Australian referendum, 1946 (Industrial Employment)
  Constitution Alteration 1946 sought to give the government legislative powers over the terms and conditions of industrial employment but not so as to authorise any form of industrial conscription...
  
   are not.
• 23 November – A general election
  Tasmanian state election, 1946
  A general election for the House of Assembly was held in the Australian state of Tasmania on 23 November 1946.-Background:Incumbent Premier Robert Cosgrove continued to lead the Labor Party into the 1946 election. The Nationalist Party had reformed into the modern Liberal Party of Australia, and...
  
   is held in Tasmania
  Tasmania
  Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
  
  . The Labor Party
  Australian Labor Party
  The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
  
   led by Robert Cosgrove
  Robert Cosgrove
  Sir Robert Cosgrove KCMG was an Australian politician, trade unionist, and twice Premier of Tasmania from 18 December 1939 to 18 December 1947 and 25 February 1948 to 26 August 1958....
  
   is returned to power with a reduced majority.
• 13 December – The United Nations
  United Nations
  The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
  
   grants Australia trusteeship of Territory of New Guinea
  Territory of New Guinea
  The Territory of New Guinea was the Australia-controlled, League of Nations-mandated territory in the north eastern part of the island of New Guinea, and surrounding islands, between 1920 and 1949...
  
   and Territory of Papua.

Science and technology

• 7 August – Overseas Telecommunications Commission
  Overseas Telecommunications Commission
  The Overseas Telecommunications Commission was established by an Act of Parliament in August 1946. It inherited facilities and resources from Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited and Cable & Wireless, and was charged with responsibility for all international telecommunications services into,...
  
   established by an Act of Parliament in August 1946. It inherited facilities and resources from Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited
  Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Limited
  Amalgamated Wireless Ltd . Throughout most of the 20th century AWA was Australia's largest and most prominent electronics organisation, undertaking development, manufacture and distribution of radio, telecommunications, television and audio equipment as well as broadcasting services.After the...
  
   (AWA) and Cable & Wireless
  Cable & Wireless
  Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC is a global telecommunications company headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom. Cable & Wireless specialises in providing communication networks and services to large corporates, governments, carrier customers and resellers...
  
  , and was charged with responsibility for all international telecommunications services into, through and out of Australia.

Arts and literature

• William Dargie
  William Dargie
  Sir William Alexander Dargie CBE was an Australian painter, known especially for his portrait paintings. He holds the record for the most Archibald Prize wins; eight. He was an official Australian War Artist during World War II.- Biography :William Dargie was born in Footscray, Victoria, the first...
  
   wins the Archibald Prize
  Archibald Prize
  The Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...
  
   with his portrait of L. C. Robson

Sport

• Morna takes line honours and Christina wins on handicap in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
  Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
  The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, Australia on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart. The race distance is approximately...
  
  
• Russia
  Russia (horse)
  Russia was a hardy Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1946 Melbourne Cup and other staying races.-Breeding:He was a chestnut stallion foaled in 1940 by the unplaced, but good sire, Excitement from the unraced Lady March by the useful broodmare sire, Bonnement . Lady March also had...
  
   wins the Melbourne Cup
  Melbourne Cup
  The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
  
  
• New Zealand defeats Australia 2-0 in a Rugby union
  Rugby union
  Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
  
   test

Births

• 29 January – Ian Meldrum
  Ian Meldrum
  Ian Alexander "Molly" Meldrum AM is an Australian popular music critic, journalist, record producer , and musical entrepreneur...
  
  , music personality
• 8 February – Bob Collins, politician
• 24 February – Bob Pearce
  Bob Pearce
  Robert John Pearce was an Australian politician, and a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1977 until 1993 representing the seats of Gosnells and Armadale.-Biography:...
  
  , politician
• 3 March – Tim Fischer
  Tim Fischer
  Timothy Andrew Fischer, AC , is a former Australian politician. He served as Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 before retiring from Cabinet in 1999...
  
  , politician
• 4 April – Colin Coates
  Colin Coates
  Colin Victor Coates is a former ice speed skater from Australia, who represented his native country in – a record – six consecutive Winter Olympics, starting in 1968 in Grenoble, France....
  
  , ice speed skater
• 17 April – Kerry O'Brien
  Kerry O'Brien (athlete)
  Kerry O'Brien is a former athlete from Australia, who competed in the middle distance events. He was born in Port Augusta, South Australia....
  
  , middle-distance runner
• 22 May – David Graham
  David Graham (golfer)
  Anthony David Graham is a former professional golfer from Australia.Born in Windsor, Australia, Graham turned professional in 1962 at age 16 and spent much of his career in the United States, playing on the PGA Tour. Turning age 50 in 1996, he joined the Senior PGA Tour, later known as the...
  
  , golfer
• 9 July – Bon Scott
  Bon Scott
  Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott was a Scottish-born Australian rock musician, best known for being the lead singer and lyricist of Australian hard rock band AC/DC from 1974 until his death in 1980...
  
  , singer (d. 1980)
• 1 August – Fiona Stanley
  Fiona Stanley
  Fiona Stanley, AC is an Australian epidemiologist noted for her public health work, and her research into child and maternal health, and birth disorders such as cerebral palsy.-Life:...
  
  , epidemiologist
• 16 September – Mike Reynolds
  Mike Reynolds (politician)
  Michael Reynolds is an Australian politician. He was a Labor member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1998 to 2009, representing the district of Townsville. He served as Speaker of the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2009.- Biography :Reynolds has first elected to...
  
  , Qld Parliament Speaker
• 10 October – Anne Boyd
  Anne Boyd
  Anne Elizabeth Boyd AM is an Australian composer and Professor of Music at the University of Sydney.-Early life:Anne Boyd was born in Sydney to James Boyd and Annie Freda Deason Boyd ....
  
  , composer
• 18 October – Penelope Wensley
  Penelope Wensley
  Penelope "Penny" Anne Wensley, AC is the Governor of Queensland and a former Australian diplomat.Born in Toowoomba, Queensland, she was educated at Penrith High School in New South Wales, the Rosa Bassett School in London , and the University of Queensland where she graduated with a first class...
  
  , Governor of Queensland (2008-Incumbent)
• 28 October – John Hewson
  John Hewson
  John Robert Hewson AM is an Australian economist, company director and a former politician. He was federal leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 1990 to 1994 and led the party to defeat at the 1993 federal election.-Early life:...
  
  , politician
• 2 November – Alan Jones
  Alan Jones (Formula 1)
  Alan Stanley Jones MBE is an Australian former Formula One driver. He was the first driver to win a Formula One World Championship with the Williams team, becoming the 1980 World Drivers' Champion....
  
  , racing driver
• 20 December – John Bertrand, yachtsman

Deaths

• 2 January – Joe Darling
  Joe Darling
  Joseph "Joe" Darling CBE was an Australian cricketer who played 34 Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1894 and 1905. As captain, he led Australia in a total of 21 Tests, winning seven and losing four. In Test cricket, he scored 1657 runs at an average of 28.56 per innings, including...
  
  , Australian Test cricket captain (b, 1870)
• 20 March – Ethel Richardson
  Henry Handel Richardson
  Henry Handel Richardson, the pseudonym used by Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson, was an Australian author. She took the name "Henry Handel" because at that time, many people did not take women's writing seriously, so she used a male name...
  
  , writer (b. 1870)
• 13 September – William Watt
  William Watt
  William Alexander Watt PC was an Australian politician who was the 24th Premier of Victoria, and later a leading federal politician and Speaker of the House of Representatives....
  
  , Premier of Victoria (b. 1871)